Placement agency sued after child hurt in shower

9-month-old has burns on 40 percent of his body

JO ANN ZUÑIGA, Copyright 2002 Houston Chronicle

Published 5:30 am, Friday, August 16, 2002

For Children's Sake, a private child placement agency, is being sued for placing a 9-month-old boy in a crowded foster home where he was allegedly left alone in a shower and badly burned by scalding water.

A lawsuit filed Thursday is asking for medical costs and future damages for the child, burned over more than 40 percent of his body April 6 and treated at Shriners Burns Hospital in Galveston.

Lawyer Randall Sorrels said the boy faces many surgeries and permanent scarring. Sorrels filed the suit on behalf of the boy and his court-appointed representative.

The suit criticized For Children's Sake for placing the child and his sisters, ages 2 and 4, with foster parents who had three of their own children under 4. The children were placed on April 3.

Most Popular

The suit said the foster mother had given birth by Caesarean section three weeks earlier and the foster father was limited to crutches because of a leg injury.

Sorrels said Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services rules prohibit more than four children under 6 in a residence if two are under 18 months, including the children of the foster family, Sorrels said.

"This was a tragedy waiting to happen, and it is exactly what the law was designed to prohibit," he said.

For Children's Sake officials could not be reached for comment, but Harris County Children's Protective Services spokeswoman Judy Hay confirmed the accident.

"We originally placed the children because their mother has a record of homelessness, drug abuse and other problems," she said.

CPS at times uses For Children's Sake for alternative foster homes, she said, and it previously had a good record.

"We've placed the child in another home and he is recuperating, but he still has bandages on his legs and arm," Hay said.